Father took his own life after years of suffering from back pain, inquest rules

A KNUTSFORD man who suffered decades of back pain took his own life with painkillers, an inquest has concluded.

Former baggage handler, Fred Sinclair, 67, was found dead in bed at his home at Longridge on February 22.

The inquest in Warrington on Monday heard that Mr Sinclair had been retired from his job because of the back pain.

His GP Tim Mallon told the inquest: “He wasn’t suicidal. I think he was rather frustrated and a bit angry at retiring at 45 with a bad back and it was hard for him to take.”

Dr Mallon told the inquest that to help relieve the pain Mr Sinclair had been taking Co-proxamol, but due to his prevailing heart condition, he had warned him of the dangers of overdosing.

The drug itself was withdrawn from general prescription because of its toxicity, but its removal left Mr Sinclair with the loss of what he believed to be the only effective drug to treat his pain, the inquest heard.

Dr Mallon added: “Over the years we have struggled to find other painkillers that were hitting the spot in dealing with the pain in his back.”

The last prescription he had for the drug was in March 2011.

His son Anthony told the inquest that his father was a proud man who would never have wanted to end up in a wheelchair.

“He wanted his distalgesic (Co-proxamol) back because he was in a lot of pain,” he said.

Anthony said that after his father’s death, two emails were found on his electronic tablet, which, in hindsight, indicated that he was hurting very much and was, in effect, saying goodbye to the family.

PC Andrew Walker had earlier told the inquest that the box of Co-proxamol, which had been prescribed in 2011, was found at the bedside.

West Lancashire coroner Claire Hammond said the cause of his death was “suicide as the result of an old prescription of Co-proxamol, with underlying heart disease, which had also contributed to his death”.